Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960)[1] is an American actress,
author, singer, and comedian. She is best known for her role as Sue
Sylvester in the musical television series
GleeGlee and Earth Live in
National Geographic. She also gained fame in Christopher Guest's
improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show.[2][3][4]
Lynch's television cameos include an appearance in the Nickelodeon
situation comedy iCarly and the Showtime dark comedy series Weeds.
Lynch had a recurring role in the
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. situation comedy Two
and a Half Men from 2004 to 2014 and was nominated for a Primetime
Emmy Award for her performance in 2010. She has also had other notable
roles in numerous mainstream comedies, such as Talladega Nights: The
Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The 40-Year-Old Virgin,
Role ModelsRole Models and The
Three Stooges.
Her portrayal of
Sue SylvesterSue Sylvester in
GleeGlee has won numerous awards,
including the Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors
Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy
Series, TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, Satellite
Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries, or
Television Film, and the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy
Actress.
On September 4, 2013, Lynch received the 2,505th star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in the category of television located at 6640 Hollywood
Blvd. Lynch has lent her voice to multiple animated films, including
Space Chimps, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,
Shrek Forever AfterShrek Forever After and
Wreck-It Ralph. Since 2013, she has hosted the
NBCNBC game show Hollywood
Game Night, for which she has won two Emmy Awards.

Contents

1 Early life
2 Career

2.1 Early work
2.2 Films
2.3 Television shows
2.4 Other work

3 Personal life
4 List of works
5 References
6 External links

Early life[edit]
Lynch was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois,[5] and raised in Dolton,
Illinois, the daughter of a banker father, Frank Lynch, and a
homemaker-secretary mother, Eileen (née Carney).[6][7][8] Her father
was of Irish descent, his parents having come from
SwinfordSwinford County
Mayo, [9][10] and her mother was of Irish and Swedish ancestry.[11]
She was raised in a Catholic family[12] and attended Thornridge High
School.[6] She received her
Bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree in theater from Illinois
State University and her MFA in theater from Cornell University.
Career[edit]
Early work[edit]
Lynch spent 15 years in Chicago, acting in the Steppenwolf Theatre
Company and, at the time of her audition, was one of only two women
picked to join
The Second CityThe Second City comedy troupe.[6][13] She then
continued to hone her comical and improvisational skills at Annoyance
Theater, playing
Carol BradyCarol Brady in the theater's The Real Live Brady
Bunch.
Andy RichterAndy Richter played Mike Brady in the New York shows. He and
Lynch became very good friends.[14]
Films[edit]
Lynch got her start in films in 1988, playing a small role in the film
Vice Versa. In 1993, she had a secondary role as a doctor alongside
Harrison FordHarrison Ford in The Fugitive.[15]
During the 1990s, she made numerous television commercials, including
one for
Frosted FlakesFrosted Flakes for an adult audience, directed by Christopher
Guest. A few years later, Guest would remember Lynch, as he chose
actors for his 2000 dog show mockumentary, Best in Show. Lynch played
Christy Cummings, a butch lesbian personal dog handler to trophy wife
Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge). From there, she became a staple
actress in Guest's casts, appearing in the director's A Mighty Wind
(2003) as porn actress-turned-folk singer Laurie Bohner and in For
Your Consideration (2006) as an entertainment reporter.
Audiences and critics took notice of Lynch for her turn in Judd
Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. She told Fresh Air's
Terry GrossTerry Gross that
the role was originally intended for a man but also that, at the
urging of Steve Carell's wife Nancy Walls, was offered to Lynch
instead.[16] From there, she took supporting roles in a series of
films including Role Models, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky
Bobby, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,
Space Chimps, The Rocker, The Hammer, Another Cinderella Story, Ice
Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Wreck-It Ralph, and Spring Breakdown.[17]
In Adventures of Power, a critically acclaimed comedy about
air-drumming released in 2008, Lynch reunited with Michael McKean, her
former co-star from For Your Consideration, in the role of Aunt Joanie
and starring alongside Ari Gold, Adrian Grenier, Chiu Chi Ling, and
Shoshannah Stern. In a role similar to that of her contributions as
Sue SylvesterSue Sylvester on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee, Lynch's
role as the encouraging Aunt Joanie to Power, a young musician who
plays the air drums because he never had access to musical
instruments, promotes the initiative to support music education.[18]
In Julie and Julia, she portrayed Dorothy McWilliams, Julia Child's
sister.
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly dedicated an article, on its net-site, to
the possibility of her performance receiving an Academy Award
nomination.[19][20] However, she was not nominated.
Television shows[edit]
Lynch has appeared in many television shows, including The X Files,
L.A. Law, Judging Amy, The West Wing, 7th Heaven, Desperate
Housewives, Friends, NewsRadio, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Arrested
Development, Lovespring International, Two and a Half Men, Veronica
Mars, Weeds, Boston Legal, L Word, Criminal Minds,
Help Me
Help You,
Gilmore Girls, New Adventures of Old Christine, Psych, Monk and
Frasier. She also starred with John Hannah and
William FichtnerWilliam Fichtner in
2002's MDs and has appeared in the crime drama
Criminal MindsCriminal Minds as
Spencer Reid's schizophrenic mother.
In 2008 she narrated Out & Proud in Chicago, a documentary which
tells about LGBT life in Chicago from the Civil War to 2008 through
the stories of 20 everyday Chicagoans, from age 30 to age 80.[21]

Beginning in 2009, Lynch appeared as a regular cast member of the Fox
series Glee. The role echoed previous guest appearances in The X-Files
and Veronica Mars, being her third time cast as a harsh high school
teacher. She won glowing reviews for her role as the aggressive
cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles
Times wrote, "Lynch alone makes
GleeGlee worth watching."[22] Before her
work with Glee, she was a series regular on the Starz comedy Party
Down. Though the series was renewed for a second season, Lynch would
not be returning, due to her work on Glee.[23]
In addition to her most recent work on Glee, Lynch continued to pursue
other projects. Lynch hosted
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live on October 9, 2010;
the news of her hosting was accidentally broken to her by her Glee
boss, Ryan Murphy, by text message.[24] Lynch had also guest-starred
on the
NickelodeonNickelodeon comedy iCarly as Pam Puckett, Sam Puckett's mother,
in the episode "iSam's Mom."
Beginning on July 11, 2013, Lynch hosted the
NBCNBC game show Hollywood
Game Night. The show had two teams made up of members of the public
(civilians) and celebrities competing in various party games, with a
chance for the civilians to take home up to $25,000.[25]
Lynch was the co-host of the
NBCNBC special New Year's Eve with Carson
Daly on December 31, 2013, alongside Carson Daly, host of The Voice.
In February 21, 2017, Lynch appeared on The Price Is Right as a
Celebrity Charity Week.
In March 2013, Lynch was announced as executive producer of comedy web
series Dropping the Soap.[26] Lynch starred in the series and was
nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a
Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.[27] The series premiered on
Dekkoo.com and was made available on digital platforms including
Amazon Video.[28]
Lynch currently portrays
Janet RenoJanet Reno in the Discovery Channel
television series, Manhunt: Unabomber.[29]
Other work[edit]
Lynch wrote and starred in the award-winning play Oh Sister, My
Sister. Originally produced in 1998, the play kicked off the Lesbians
in Theater program at the
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian CenterLos Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in
2004.[30]
She starred in Comcast's XFinity ads, mainly with two different
laptops and two different colored Persian cats. She also stars in LG
Corp.'s Text Ed campaign to educate drivers about the dangers of
texting while driving.[31]
Lynch's first experience hosting an awards show was in 2010 when she
hosted the 2010 VH1 DoSomething Awards.[32] It was announced that she
will be hosting the 2011 VH1 DoSomething Awards, airing on VH1 on
August 18.[33] Lynch hosted the
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards63rd Primetime Emmy Awards on
September 18, 2011, only the third woman in Emmy history to host the
awards show solo.[34] According to the September 19 edition of The
Hollywood Reporter, Lynch hosting the Emmys did not help ratings, as
viewing was down 8% year over year and eight million fewer people
watched the Emmys than watched Michael Vick's return to Atlanta on
Sunday Night Football on
NBCNBC (21.5 million for Eagles-Falcons,
13.5 million for the Emmys).[35]

An autobiography written by Lynch, titled Happy Accidents, was
published in the fall of 2011 by Hyperion Voice. Lynch was inspired to
write the book after reflecting upon the successes of her past year
and wishing she could have told her more anxious, younger self to not
worry as much.[36] The memoir also includes detail about her years as
an alcoholic and her success in battling this addiction.[37] Lynch is
openly lesbian and married Lara Embry in 2010.[38] A self-proclaimed
animal lover, Lynch has two dogs and a cat.[39] She has recorded a PSA
for PETA encouraging the adoption of shelter animals, and she sponsors
an annual adoption event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.[40][41] She was
the commencement speaker for Smith College's class of 2012 where she
received an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts.
In March 2012, Lynch was featured with Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis,
Chris ColferChris Colfer and
Brad PittBrad Pitt in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's
play, '8' – a staged re-enactment of the federal trial that
overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage – as Maggie
Gallagher.[42] The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre
and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation
for Equal Rights.[43][44]
Lynch made her Broadway debut as Miss Hannigan in Annie for a limited
engagement lasting from May 15 to July 14, 2013. She took the place of
Katie Finneran.[45]
In 2014, Lynch joined the
Ban BossyBan Bossy campaign as a spokesperson
advocating leadership roles for girls.[46]
In 2015, Lynch debuted See Jane Sing, a cabaret show in which she
sings along with
Kate FlanneryKate Flannery from The Office and Tim Davis from
ABC's Boy Band, accompanied by the
Tony GuerreroTony Guerrero Quintet. The show
continues to tour around the country. In 2016, Lynch released A
Swingin' Little Christmas, a nostalgic Christmas album featuring the
See Jane Sing ensemble and released on Lynch's own KitschTone Records
label. The album received substantial airplay around the country and
landed on the Billboard AC Chart's Top 10. In 2017, Lynch recorded a
Christmas single with actor Dick Van Dyke. The song was composed and
produced by
Tony GuerreroTony Guerrero and was released by KitschTone Records.
Personal life[edit]
Lynch is openly lesbian; in 2005, she was named one of Power Up's "10
Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz." Lynch married clinical psychologist
Lara Embry on May 31, 2010, in Sunderland, Massachusetts, whom she
first met a year earlier at a fundraiser in San Francisco.[47][48][49]
In June 2013, Lynch announced that she and Embry were divorcing after
three years of marriage.[50] The divorce was finalized in January
2014.[51]
Lynch is deaf in her right ear. On July 19, 2013, she speculated to
Craig FergusonCraig Ferguson on The Late Late Show that the deafness in that ear was
most likely caused by having had a high fever as an infant.[52]
List of works[edit]
Main article: List of
Jane LynchJane Lynch performances